News

With a growing number of cruise ships entering the Otago Harbour this year, an emergency plan is being put in place to manage any potential disaster.

The number of cruise ships visiting Otago has soared over the past decade from 25 in 2003 to 80 this year, prompting the emergency plan. It is designed to address disasters as diverse as terrorist attacks, bomb threats, fires and extreme weather.

Since work began on the plan, two cruise ships have struck disaster on foreign waters – the ill-fated Costa Concordia in January of this year, and the Costa Allegra, which caught fire in the Indian Ocean six weeks later. While these accidents demonstrate the potential risks to cruise ships, Critic suggests that in Dunedin’s calm waters a Zombie Apocalypse Contingency Plan might be a more suitable use of resources.

The man behind the plan, Police Southern District Operations Manager Inspector Alastair Dickie (try saying it fast), believes it is “questionable” whether Dunedin has the resources to carry out a mass evacuation. However Inspector Dickie commented “you have to start off with some sort of plan, otherwise people are running around like headless chooks trying to decide where the starting point is.” Critic reiterates that the same is true in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse.